Yet Another Blog...

...to talk about espresso? Maybe I'm a coffee snob, or maybe it's because I'm from Seattle, but I've got to take a moment to point out a couple things. In all this talk about Starbucks closing
for a few hours today, I've been reminded that some people know neither how to pronounce espresso nor what it actually is. So let me help-a-brother-out....

According to dictionary.com

es·pres·so  (ĭ-sprěs'ō, ě-sprěs'ō)noun  pl. es·pres·sos A strong coffee brewed by forcing steam under pressure through darkly roasted, powdered coffee beans.A cup of espresso

Notice 2 things about the above definition.

1. It is pronounced E-SPRES-SO not EX-SPRES-SO or EC-SPRES-SO

2. The word refers to either a brew process or a specific drink.

-Fine ground, darkly roasted coffee beans brewed by steam to create a strong, shot of coffee called espresso

-When you order an "espresso", you will get a small cup with 1 or 2 shots of espresso brewed coffee

Americano - Espresso and hot water

Breve - Latte made with half and half instead of milk

Drip - Coffee brewed in a regular coffee maker

Espresso - Pure shots of espresso coffee, some people like to add cream or sugar.

Cappuccino - Traditionally - 1/3 espresso, 1/3 stamed milk, 1/3 foam. More commonly in America - a latte with much more foam.

Latte - Espresso with steamed milk and a small amount of foam

Macchiato - Upside down latte. Steamed milk, foam and espresso poured over top

Misto - Drip coffee and steamed milk

Mocha - A Latte with chocolate sauce or powder added

Sunday, February 10, is officially Shark Sunday on the Discovery Channel!!

From noon to midnight is nothing but Shark programming. Even Mythbusters is getting in on the action.

Oh. Boy.

Yesterday afternoon I grabbed lunch at one of my favorite lunch spots in Burbank. This place has delicioso authentic Mexican food and that's why I keep going. However, every once in a while this restaurant offers more than just delicioso burritos y tacos. Yes in the greater Burbank area a restaurant like this attracts celebrities too and if you're lucky, you'll be there when one shows up. Yesterday I was there at the same time as Alfonso Ribeiro. I must admit, I didn't know his name yesterday and I'm sure most of you don't recognize it now. You will definitely recognize his most famous character - Carlton Banks! Even now that nostalgic theme song is running through my head ("Now this is a story all about how my life got flipped, turned upside down....") Ah...good ol' plaid wearin', country club goin', 70s dancin' Carlton. Alfonso seemed like a pretty regular guy which makes his portrayal of Carlton even more impressive than it already was.

Thanks to Nick@Nite we can enjoy Alfonso's performance on this ground breaking show something like 25 times a week. But for those of you who aren't up that late in the evening, here is a special compilation of what really endeared us to Carlton Banks.

(Those of you who are angry with me for getting the theme song stuck in your head may not want to watch the following video - this song sticks much worse)

Nice work R & L

Nice work Bill Gates....Your talent is inexhaustible.



I bet they put the video together on a Mac.

I did it. I finally called the dentist and made an appointment. It's a long overdue appointment. I have alot of excuses for not making the appointment sooner- mainly I couldn't find a good time to be out of commission for several days....like planning when to get the flu. See, there is quite a bit that needs to be done - remove the last wisdom tooth, put in a couple fillings, touch up a couple fillings, adjust the crown, then go back for a good cleaning, probably a deep and painful cleaning. So what finally pushed me to finally make the call? My sweet little niece, Katie. She's 5 1/2 and oh so honest. Here's the story:

One evening, while we were at my sister's in San Antonio, my nieces were getting ready for bed. They had brushed their teeth and had come over to show me how clean they were. I asked them if their teeth were squeaky clean. They both began rubbing their teeth with their index fingers until they each got a faint little squeak. "Sure enough! Squeaky clean!" I said. "Are mine squeaky clean?" Katie replied in a straight tone, "No, you have plaque."

So, I'm going to the dentist before my mouth looks like this.

"Live every week like it's shark week."

I can't wait for the next one!

Thanks everyone for your comments and suggestions!

We did find the stench after all and I'm really embarrassed to say that it was a wet towel that was in the washing machine. Sigh. I thought the washer was empty since I had done laundry the day before. Oh well...

Nate - YES, Fritz knew. And he knew I knew he knew, and he knew you knew he knew. I kept asking him to use his superior doggie sniffer to find it, but he refused. I think he found the search entertaining.....or maybe he liked the smell. Hm.

My house stinks. Literally...stinks. It's stinky, stenchy, odoriferous, dank, and whiffy! I have been trying to track down this smell for 4 days now and for the life of me, I CANNOT find the source of the funk. I've smelled everything close-up...even things that you shouldn't smell close-up. For example, I have had my nose about a centimeter away from the couch, the rug, the dirt in the plant pots, the Christmas tree water and Christmas tree skirt, the blankets, pillows, curtains, the cupboards, the pantry, the laundry, and the dog bed! I have cleaned the house from top to bottom, emptied all the trash cans, searched between the cushions and under the furniture. And still....no source. I had several working theories as to what could have caused the stank -

1. We had a Christmas party at our house on Wednesday, the stink showed up on Thursday...maybe somebody spilled something or a kid hid something in the house.
2. I spilled some water from the Christmas tree onto the skirt and maybe it has mildewed.
3. I mopped the floors with a mop-head that may have needed to be replaced.
4. Maybe something under the house got stirred up when John had to move some cables around the other day.

All of the above options have been explored (save going under the house again) and still no stench source. And to top it off, Fritz borked twice in the house when we got home tonight. Obviously, I'm left with only 2 options. 1. Bring in the special forces to find the stink, 2. Move.

Sign ups are now open for special forces, operation dank.

Some of you know that one of my hobbies is flower arranging. I've been into this little hobby since I was a kid and over the last couple years have had many opportunities to practice my skills. Every Monday I arrange flowers for the reception area and the bathroom for my work and every once in a while I get to do flowers for a friend's special event. Some of you have probably seen the photos on my blog under Fleur de Lis (clever name, eh?). I've recently added pictures from the arrangements I got to do for our family Thanksgiving celebration.

(< shameless plug >) I'm hoping to turn my hobby into something a little more serious that might even earn some extra income. So if you need flowers for any occasion feel free to give me a call or send me an email and I'd love to design an arrangement for you. : ) (< /shameless plug >)

...or make a bet that depends on the city to finish a project on time. You see, this summer our city began a "beautification project" on the main road that passes by our neighborhood. Among the updates classified as "beautification" are:

1. Narrow the road from 4 lanes to 2 then back to 4 then back to 2 so that it's as confusing as possible
2. New light posts
3. New benches and planters
4. Rip out the old mature trees, leave the street treeless for about 4 months and then add new young trees and plants,
5. A new "decorative arch" that spans Maclay Street at the city limit.

This arch has been the subject of much entertainment in our house. It started out as 2 matching metal frames and eventually turned into 2 matching mission style towers. Then the work stopped for a while. We assumed they needed to let the stucco set. Finally they added a rather industrial bridge-looking metal arch over the street. It sat like this for quite a while and J and I began discussing whether or not the arch was finished. J believed it was since it seemed all the elements were there, though somewhat shabby. I believed it wasn't because I hoped that they wouldn't leave it so shabby. Obviously the only way to handle the situation was to make a bet with the following terms: the city would do more work before Thanksgiving indicating that the arch was not complete and the loser will buy the winner a delicious treat from Cold Stone Creamery.

Thanksgiving loomed closer without any work done and I saw my yummy treat moving farther from my grasp. Finally Thanksgiving came and I had to face the fact that I lost the bet. Then wouldn't you guess this last Monday, the first normal weekday after Thanksgiving, the crew was out there again working on the arch! They gave it a nice new colorful coat of paint and added finishing touches.

It just goes to show you, never bank a Cold Stone treat on the project schedule of a city!

(That title is for GUS)

I LOVE this time of year. There's nothing like the Thanksgiving / Christmas season for so many reasons - reflecting on our Great Savior, time with family, foggy mornings, cool days (I wish that included snow too), shopping for the perfect gifts, Christmas music, Christmas movies (especially White Christmas), roasted turkey, pumpkin pie (Culinary Kyle's special recipe), apple cider, and Starbucks Holiday Drinks

Here are the holiday drinks in order of most favorite to delicious

1. Eggnog Latte - Eggnoggy Goodness!
2. Shortbread Latte - Like a waffle in a cup! (this is a new drink being tested only in the area between Sun Valley and Santa Clarita)
3. Peppermint Mocha - Chocolaty...Minty....creamy...DUlicious!!
4. Gingerbread Latte - Makes me want to go home and bake!

I've loved the Eggnog Latte since the first time I tasted it because, well, I've always loved eggnog. It was our family tradition to drink the first eggnog of the season after we finished decorating the Christmas Tree. if I remember right, Mom and Beth had milk or hot cocoa instead because they said eggnog was too snotty. Sorry if that ruins this holiday delight for any of you.

The Shortbread Latte is a new discovery and is possibly usurping the #1 position of the Eggnog Latte. I've never been a big fan of shortbread itself, but the latte is deliciously mild and not too sweet and tastes like waffles. I love waffles. (If you are in the test area, you must try this treat and then let me know what you think of it)

The Peppermint Mocha is a new favorite this year. I'm not usually a big fan of mocha or peppermint, but the combination is particularly delightful this morning. My wonderful husband brought one to me after he had dropped me off at work and it has finally made my list.

The Gingerbread Latte is wonderful for the right setting. It tends to be on the spicier and richer side and I think would be perfect in a short instead of a tall.

Our friend Gus recently posted this and I thought it'd be fun to see how prevalent this actually is online. Here are just 7 of about 1,650,000.

group hug - "the idea is for anyone to anonymously confess to anything. it actually feels kind of good to know that someone will read it."

Confessions of a Pioneer Woman - "I’m a thirty-something ranch wife, mother of four, and moderately-agoraphobic middle child who grew up on a golf course in the city."

Confessions of a Mathematician

Confessions of a Turtle Wife - "A website for turtle wives and their significant others"

Confessions of a Post-It Junkie

Confessions of a Chess Novice

and finally

Confessions of a Blogger - "Confessions of a blogger is a blog novel (blovel or blogel) of my adventures. I'm des perrat, blogger and blogelist."

Ghost Riding


Water Dispensing Tab

...how odd criminal nicknames can be? I mean the names that are given to criminals before they had been identified. I'd like to know who comes up with these names and why. Some of them, of course, are down right chilling, while some are much more comedic than threatening. For example:

"Abbadabba" — Otto Berman, U.S. Mafia accountant

"The Alphabet Killer" — Unidentified American serial killer

"Apples" — Hugh MacIntosh, U.S. gangster

"Big Eared Du" or "Big Ears Du" — Du Yuesheng, Chinese gang leader

"Big Greenie" — Harry Greenberg, U.S. gangster

"The Boozing Barber" — Gilbert Paul Jordan, Canadian serial killer

"Fifi" — Fiore Buccieri, U.S. Mafia hitman

"The Hippopotamus" - Sergei Ryakhovsky, Russian serial killer

"Johnness" — Dominique You, Haitian pirate

"Stupid Marty" — Martin Bryant, Australian spree killer

"The Kissing Bandit" — Edna Murray (d.1966), U.S. outlaw

"The Queen of Mean" — Leona Helmsley (1920-2007), U.S. tax evader

The show I told you about a while back hosted by the great comedy duo Rhett & Link has been cancelled. (cue sad trombone "Wa wa wa waaa") The show was actually a bit of a disappointment and I think they saw its doom coming, but it is a little sad nonetheless.

1. You've ever ended a sentence with the word SIKE.

2. You can sing the rap to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
and can do the Carlton




3. You know that "WOAH" comes from Joey on Blossom




4. If you ever watched "Fraggle Rock"




5. It was actually worth getting up early on a
Saturday to watch cartoons.




6. You wore a ponytail on the side of your head.




7. You got super-excited when it was Oregon Trail day in computer class at school.




8. You made your mom buy one of those clips that would hold your shirt in a knot on the side.


9. You played the game "MASH"
(Mansion, Apartment, Shelter, House) 




10. You wore stonewashed Jordache jean jackets
and were proud of it. 




11. You know the profound meaning of " WAX ON , WAX OFF" 




12. You wanted to be a Goonie.




13. You ever wore fluorescent clothing.
(some of us...head-to-toe) 




14. You can remember what Michael Jackson looked like before his nose fell off and his cheeks shifted. 




15. You have ever pondered why Smurfette was the
only female smurf. 




16. You took lunch boxes to school...and traded Garbage Pailkids in the schoolyard. 




17. You remember the CRAZE, then the
BANNING of slap bracelets. 




18. You still get the urge to say "NOT" after every sentence.


19. You thought your childhood friends would never leave because you exchanged handmade friendship bracelets. 




21. You ever owned a pair of Jelly-Shoes. 



22. After you saw Pee-Wee's Big Adventure you kept saying "I know you are, but what am I?" 




23. You remember "I've fallen and I can't get up" 




24. You remember going to the skating rink before there were inline skates. 




25. You have ever played with a Skip-It. 



26. You remember boom boxes and walking around with one on your shoulder like you were all that. 




27. You thought Doogie Howser/Samantha Micelli was hot. 




28. You remember Alf, the lil furry brown alien from Melmac. 




29. You remember New Kids on the Block when they were cool...and don't even flinch when people refer to them as "NKOTB" 




30. You knew all the characters names and their life stories on "Saved By The Bell," The ORIGINAL class. 




31. You know all the words to Bon Jovi
SHOT THROUGH THE HEART. 




32. You just sang those words to yourself.


33. You still sing "We are the World" 




34. You tight rolled your jeans. 




35. You owned a bannana clip. 




36. You remember "Where's the Beef?" 




37. You used to (and probably still do) say
"What you talkin' 'bout Willis?" 




38. You're still singing shot through the heart in your head, aren't you! 


(von MICHELLE)

This is for all of my friends and family who had birthdays this month:



Happy Birthday Danny, Audra, Ashley, Michelle, Chad, Mom W, Ethan, Darius & Ryan!!

My friend, who shall remain nameless, is a first year teacher at a local school. She did something the other day from the list of top 5 things NOT to do.

In her 3rd grade music class she has a little guy who cannot use his right arm or leg. My friend, in an effort to include him in the class' daily activities, asked this little guy to help her pass out the new books. As soon as she made the request and he began making his way to the front she realized she had made a big mistake that she could not back out of. Is she supposed to say "Never-mind, let's have someone who can use both his arms help"? Uh, No. Instead, she asked another student to help the poor guy take one book at a time to the kids. As if that wasn't enough of a snafu, she then tried to recover by asking him to help with "something he COULD do"... play pat-a-cake! Really!? Really friend!?

I am all done with that song. If you don't know what song I'm talking about, count yourself blessed. I refuse to link to it on my blog, but if you must put yourself through the torture of having a song in your head that sticks worse than "It's a Small World" just go to YouTube and search for Chocolate Rain. From there you can enjoy many different video versions of the song including the parody - Vanilla Snow.

This song has been passed around via email among our friends for about a week now and I can't stand to hear it anymore. John came up with his own parody which captures my feelings exactly:

Choc'late PAIN!

I think I'm really gonna go insane.

CHOC'late PAIN!

If I listen to that stupid song again

Choc'late PAIN!

All versions of this song are really lame

CHOC'late PAIN!

Just a little bit of YouTube fame

Choc'late PAIN!

Makes me want to set something aflame

CHOC'late PAIN!

A splinter in my mind, that's CHOC'LATE RAIN!

This baby's laugh is as contagious as a yawn. By the end of it, you'll either be laughing or....well..yawning I guess.

If any of you out there love me, you'll want to know that I just found a great gift for me. Next time you feel like buying me something...here's what you can get

Rhett & Link
www.rhettandlink.com

They're like a cross between You Tube + Homestar Runner + Jack Black and that = entertainment. Here's just a sampling.

Grammys '07


Facebook Song

At the risk of sounding like a big nerd, I think the Discovery channel is great. Really great. One of my favorite things about Discovery channel is 'Shark Week' and I'm really disappointed to admit that I completely missed the most recent installment. But it turns out that I, along with the rest of you who revel in such quality programming, don't have to worry because there is a host of shark delights on discovery.com! Remember, I already admitted I was a nerd so don't judge.  I think sharks are so fascinating because they are at once beautifully graceful creatures and blood thirsty monsters. I suppose there are other animals in our world with those same characteristics like say lions, tigers and bears (go ahead...you know you want to say it). But it seems to me that, with all of those other predatory animals, it would be obvious if you were being preyed upon. Sharks are so freaky because you likely won't see them coming. Of course, in the movies, as the shark approaches you can see it's dorsal fin cutting through the water like a speed boat. Somehow I doubt if that really happens though.




One of the goals of 'Shark Week' is to dispel rumors and misnomers about sharks. For example, out of the 400 different species of sharks, most are not normally aggressive toward humans. According to discovery.com there were "only 62 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks on humans, 4 that were fatal" in 2006 in the entire world.  In fact, since 1926 there have been only 269 attacks, 7 of which were fatal, in the continental U.S.. Now I don't know about you people, but stats like that are not that comforting to me. The way I see it, all 269 of those attacks were on people who never expected to be part of that statistic, and I see no reason that would keep me from being a part of the same statistic. Oh and I feel the same way about theme park rides by the way (except for Disneyland rides because for some reason they feel safer than others...maybe it's the characters). I know that the chances of being involved in a horrible accident like this one in Kentucky are so slim that I actually have a better chance of swallowing a spider in my sleep this year. But that 1 in a million statistic exists because it does happen to ONE, and why not me? The way I see it, the only way to avoid being that statistic is to avoid that type of activity all together... but I digress. 




I always learn something new about sharks during this great Discovery channel 'Shark Week' and end up with a bunch of trivia that I get teased in merciless fashion for sharing. I'm convinced that sharks are not as freaky as Spielberg would have me believe, but I think I'll still stay out of the water just the same. Well, maybe not completely out of the water, just shallow enough to minimize my chances of an attack down to, say, 1 in a billion.  I like those odds better. Okay, I've gotta go. I need to catch up on this book I'm reading about the sovereignty of God.

When your source of air conditioning is a window unit and some fans and it's 103 degrees at 5 pm you gotta do something. So we did. We had been eyeing those inflatable pools online and had decided after the next payday we'd go for it. But then we just happened to be in Walmart and found a great pool that is bigger and less expensive than what we had been looking at. The Fourth of July being upon us, we sprung for it. And OH MAN! I'm so glad we did! RE-freshing!

FYI - I added a LINKS page to the right column where I have a list of the blogs I like to visit.

I'm a blerd. I admit it. I have indeed become a blog nerd. Probably because I have the type of job where I have to keep myself busy while sitting at my desk answering phone calls and I can only check for new items at Pottery Barn so many times a day. Of course, I love to check out friend's blogs and blogs from people I haven't seen in a while, but there are also a few discussion blogs that have made it to my bookmarks page. This week, I was super encouraged by Phil Johnson's post on Pyromaniacs called the Drying Brook. Since I cannot possibly improve on this post, I'll let you read it for yourself HERE.

After a while I started to realize that the limos were mostly chauffeuring high school prom queens and bridal parties. Anytime I was down in the ritzy parts of town, I'd keep my eyes peeled for a recognizable face, but I soon realized that most of the faces were tourists keeping their eyes peeled for faces they recognized. In the 8 years I've lived in LA I've had brushes with just a handful of celebrities. Actually, most of the brushes I've had were with character actor types that I see and think, "Hey! That's...that guy...he was on....that show....Oh! What's his name?" I'm sure actors like that get tired of people looking at them trying to decide if they knew them from high school or have seen them on some TV show. Anyway, I have seen 2 real celebrities since moving here. John and I saw Jack Nicholson at Ruth's Chris Steak House during our 1st anniversary dinner. He was making a post-dinner stop at the facilities. That was my very first real celebrity sighting.



Today I was at the local bakery/cafe (on my list, of course) doing the daily lunch run when I noticed a couple in line waiting to order. The man was definitely recognizable. At first I thought he was just a guy who looked like someone famous which happens quite often. I looked again. Both of them were wearing designer clothes and accessories and they had a certain look about them. No one else in the restaurant seemed to even notice them. I work in Burbank which happens to be an entertainment industry hub. There are studios everywhere for both music and film and it is not unusual for celebrities to be around. It is unusual, however, to see a celebrity at a bakery/cafe where everyone else eats. When I got back to work, I typed the suspected name into Google and SURE ENOUGH! I had seen Cedric The Entertainer with his wife, Lorna Wells. I'm not particularly a huge fan of Cedric but it was pretty cool none the less. The funniest thing was that the woman who took their food order obviously had no clue who he was and interrupted his order several times. He was a bit annoyed. It was good to know that even celebrities get their orders messed up from time to time.

So....John and I have been in the website world for quite a while, but we haven't been good at keeping it up. Here is my attempt to re-join the webolution. Hope you enjoy!